1 Dong & 1 Fried Yolk
Hanoi, 12th May 2002 (Part 2)
On the way back to town, we walked through a really busy, typical
Hanoi street, and there were no tourists to be seen. We looked for
somewhere to eat, and soon found a little food tent packed with
locals.
We sat down, and one of the ladies brought us a menu, completely in
Vietnamese. Ah. It did have pictures though, and we worked out that
dishes included chicken, fish, dog, snake and many more interesting
things. Determined not to eat fried insects or something, out came
the phrase books and we tried to translate some of the dishes. Gilad
eventually ordered an omelette & baguette, Andy ordered soup, and I
ordered some Chicken fried rice. Now my food was fine. Gilad's and
Andy's was ok, however they were the smallest portions I have ever
seen! Andy's soup came in a thimble sized pot, and Gilad's
'omelette' was a single fried egg, with most of the white trimmed
off (basically making it a fried yolk!). Once we'd stopped laughing
at the ridiculous portions, we took some photos, much to the
amusement of the locals!
The rest of the afternoon passed quite quietly. Gilad & I went for a
coffee & bite to eat at a cafe by the side of the lake. The food was
a little costly & the coffee quite small, but the atmosphere was
lovely. Watching over the lake in twilight is very relaxing,
especially after a day dodging the motorbikes! As we were eating, we
were hassled occasionally by the kids selling postcards &
guide-books. Many of them try very hard to get you to buy something.
One young boy really impressed up with his brilliant English and
great sales pitch. We had an interesting chat with him about
Vietnamese life and his hopes & dreams. Of course, in the end I
bought some postcards off him because he was such a great kid. If I
was really rich, I'd buy a little something off all of these people.
In the evening, Andy had suggested that we go to a very popular club
called “Apocalypse Now”. So after some dinner, we headed over there
at 10pm. However, the place was pretty dead, just a few guys playing
pool & drinking. We decided to leave, then return later, hoping that
it would be a bit more lively. “Apocalypse Now” is described as the
liveliest place in Hanoi, so we hoped it would get a bit better.
When we returned an hour later, the place was totally packed, I
guess everyone must come here when the other bars closed. The dance
floor was heaving with foreigners & locals alike, and the atmosphere
was really charged with some great music. Strangely, though, they
had Mr Bean episodes playing on a large projector!
Our hotel had asked how late we were going to stay out. I said "If
it's bad, we'll be back in an hour, if it's good, we'll be gone for
ages". It was good, Andy stayed till 2am, I stayed until closing at
3:30am. I started chatting with an English girl, Holly, (the only
person the same age as me in the whole place) and another English
guy, JP. We hung out for most of the evening, and when the place
closed up, we hopped on some motorbike taxis to go to a little bar
which will remain nameless. This place is obviously below board
because it stays open all night long (bars should legally close no
later than midnight) staffed by two French guys. We stayed there and
drank & chatted for a few hours, before deciding to call it a night
at 4:30am.
JP took a motorbike taxi back to his hotel because he was feeling
lazy, but Holly & I walked the short distance back. It was quite
strange walking around Hanoi at this time. All the shops were closed
and the streets were very empty, but the occasional motorbike drove
past. As we walked, the number of motorbikes, bicycles & locals
walking, slowly grew. Hanoi was waking up. We passed crowds of
people eating (breakfast?) at 4:50am. Now that's an early start!
Even more amusing, were the large number of middle aged Vietnamese
men dressed in shorts & T-shirts, stretching & limbering up by the
fountain, about to do some early morning exercise! Running at 5am is
VERY early morning exercise!
By the time I reached by hotel, it was just gone 5am, and I snuck
in, trying (unsuccessfully) not to wake Gilad, before falling into
my bed to get some much needed sleep.
I'd planned to get up at 7am this morning to get to the Mausoleum,
but I think I'll leave that for another day! Good night!
Next Diary Entry >>
|
